She sounds great, doesn't she ? She stood with the Water Protectors, she went to Syria to find out for herself what is going on there, she's for universal healthcare, renewable energy, affordable housing, LGBT marriage equality, 'sensible' gun control, etc., etc. She pretty much checks all the boxes for most 'progressives', it would seem. One big problem, though: she is not, by any stretch, ANTI-WAR. She has been pretty careful not to claim an 'anti-war' position, only that she is against 'regime-change wars'. Apparently, a lot of her base selectively hears that as 'anti-war', unfortunately. Instead of supporting a true 'anti-war' candidate, it seems that many of us are once again happy to accept the lesser of many evils and amazingly start believing that 'selective' war is better than no war. How'd that work out with Obama (twice) ?

From the beginning I've been deeply concerned with her military record of the last 15years, deployed to the Middle East twice, volunteered and not drafted, and currently on active duty with the rank of Major ! Along with that rank comes a hefty salary and all sorts of benefits only the military receives. Putting that in perspective, Tulsi Gabbard is an active-duty Major in the military collecting a military salary and, at the same time, an 'active duty' Congressperson collecting a civilian salary, all the while casting her votes on military budget, allotment and engagement issues that arise in Congress. Conflict of interest much? After listening to her interviews and speeches, I have come to the conclusion that she is far more engaged with the military than the civilian population, constantly referring to others in the military as her 'brothers and sisters in arms' and giving priority to the costs that THEY pay via our continuous wars and short shrift to the cost to innocent civilians around the world. Throughout her numerous interviews and public speeches there are many examples of this bias, but the most glaring and concerning came in a recent interview with Kim Iverson. While discussing the issue of running for President, Kim asked her, and I quote, " Does it scare you a little bit that, as a service member, that so many of the candidates have never served?" I've transcribed, for your enjoyment, Ms. Gabbard's response as follows:
Ms. Gabbard loves to repeat the mantra that she is against regime-change wars. If given the opportunity, I'd like to ask her to list for me the wars and other military actions that the US has been involved in for the last 15 years, the entire time she has been active-duty military, that are not 'regime-change wars' in one capacity or another. When she inevitably fails to do that, I'd like her to tell me why she is still in the military.

"Rob Kall's book, Bottom-Up, offers a compelling vision of a way of being in the world, bringing insights from different cultures and fields together while offering concrete steps to make the vision a reality. This is one of the rare books that, once you read it, will change the way you see the world and your relationships."

Helena Norberg-Hodge, author of Ancient Futures,
Producer and co-director of the film The Economics of Happiness, Founder of Local Futures and cofounder of the International Forum on Globalization